Proposal would save money, lose custodians

BREWER, ME — A proposal set to go before the Brewer school board would save the district more than $100,00 a year, but cut six custodians, according to the Bangor Daily News.

"I''m going to propose to the Brewer School Committee that they consider contracting cleaning for the new school," said Superintendent Daniel Lee.

"My proposal adds 5,000 man-hours to clean the school annually at an overall savings, excluding unemployment for the first year, of $101,168," Lee added.

School officials had been planning to add two custodians in order to help clean the new Brewer Community School, which will consolidate five aging schools when it opens in the fall, but the expense of doing so has turned out to be more expensive than previously thought, the article stated.

According to the article, school officials and the union representing the school''s custodians are in the process of negotiating possible severance packages.

Another factor in the decision to cut custodians or not: The new school has been designed under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, which makes the building certified "green" and anyone who cleans it will need to use national Green Seal standards, the article noted.